The Mercedes Police Department, The Uniting Neighbors in Drug Abuse Defense (UNIDAD) Coalition, and Behavioral Solutions of Texas partnered up to install a permanent prescription medication box at Mercedes City Hall, located at 400 S. Ohio Avenue. Courtesy Image
Texas Border Business
The Mercedes Police Department, The Uniting Neighbors in Drug Abuse Defense (UNIDAD) Coalition, and Behavioral Solutions of Texas partnered up to install a permanent prescription medication box at Mercedes City Hall, located at 400 S. Ohio Avenue.
Courtesy Image
Placement of the box here at Mercedes City Hall, will facilitate access to residents, so that they can properly dispose of their medication, without having to wait until take-back days. The drop-box is a safe and anonymous way to dispose of unused, or expired medication. The main goal is to reduce the availability of prescribed medication that may result in misuse or abuse by children, youth, or adults.
This prescription drop box allows an opportunity to educate the community about the dangers that prescription medications pose if left unattended or improperly discarded.
Courtesy Image
Improper disposal of prescription medication drop-box will allow for a reduction of access to addictive medications via accidental or intentional misuse by children or others.
This collaborative effort will enhance resources and increase awareness of the dangers associated with prescription drug misuse and abuse.
Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement after the Supreme Court upheld the Biden Administration’s decision to terminate the Remain-in-Mexico policy in Biden v. Texas.
Texas Border Business
AUSTIN, Texas – Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement after the Supreme Court upheld the Biden Administration’s decision to terminate the Remain-in-Mexico policy in Biden v. Texas:
“The Supreme Court’s decision upholding DHS’s termination of the Remain-in-Mexico policy will only embolden the Biden Administration’s open border policies. More than fifty people recently died in a trailer—people who were allowed to cross our border illegally because of President Biden’s policies. Reinstating and fully enforcing Remain-in-Mexico would deter thousands more migrants from making that deadly trek, and President Biden should take that simple step to secure the border because it is the only humane thing to do.”
U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana sentenced Alvarez to 282 months in federal prison. Image for illustration purposes
Texas Border Business
LAREDO, Texas – A leader within Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generación has been ordered to federal prison for his role in an elaborate conspiracy of possession with intent to distribute meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery.
Juan Manuel Salazar Alvarez, 29, Michoacan, Mexico, pleaded guilty Nov. 5, 2020.
U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana sentenced Alvarez to 282 months in federal prison. Not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face removal proceedings following his imprisonment. He was also ordered to pay a $2.7 million.
The investigation began in June 2017, when authorities identified Alvarez as a leader within Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generación. Alvarez directed the cartel’s large-scale operations functioning in Tamaulipas, Mexico. It comprised of couriers, stash house operators and transportation coordinators, all responsible for smuggling multi-kilogram quantities of narcotics concealed in fire extinguishers, wooden blocks, car batteries and hydraulic jacks. The drugs were often illegally imported into Laredo and stashed in storage units or tractor trailers to then be distributed into Houston, Dallas, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina.
During the course of the investigation, authorities linked 16 separate drug seizures to Alvarez. The drugs were concealed in similar manner. The seizures spanned from July 18, 2017, through Sept. 10, 2019.
The wholesale value of the drugs seized is estimated to be $2.7 million.
Alvarez’s co-conspirators included truck drivers, stash house operators and transporters who were implicated in the seizure of wooden/steel blocks, hydraulic jacks, batteries or fire extinguishers which contained bundles of an assortment of drugs in multiple kilograms.
Alvarez is the last defendant among 11 who have been previously sentenced for their roles in the conspiracy. Roberto Ivan Rodriguez Ramirez, 27, and Manuel Enrique Ayala Rodriguez, 45, both of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, were each sentenced to 192 months, while Giovani Mendez Hornelas, a non-U.S. citizen residing in Angier, North Carolina, received 108 months. Daniel Morales Hinojosa, 52, Santos Salazar, 35, Victor Hinojosa, 36, Omar Hiracheta-Cruz, 38, and Armando Animas Hernandez, 33, all from Michoacan and or Nuevo Leon, Mexico, were sentenced earlier in the year. Daniel Hinojosa and Salazar were each ordered to serve 262-month-terms of imprisonment, while Victor Hinojosa, Hiracheta-Cruz and Hernandez received 210, 192 and 120 months, respectively. All are also expected to face removal proceedings.
Alvarez will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
The Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Operation Gelo Podre (Rotten Ice) with the assistance of Laredo Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service, Border Patrol, Texas Department of Public Safety and Williamson County Sheriff’s Office coordinated through Special Operations Division Operation Python.
OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found on the Department of Justice’s OCDETF webpage.
Deputy Criminal Chief for the South Texas Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Mary Lou Castillo prosecuted the case.
Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement after the Supreme Court ruled against EPA overreach in West Virginia v. EPA. Image for illustration purposes
Texas Border Business
AUSTIN, Texas – Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement after the Supreme Court ruled against EPA overreach in West Virginia v. EPA:“I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate the EPA’s power grab and rein in this lawless Biden Administration.
Texas joined other States in this case to stop D.C. bureaucrats from imposing costly regulations without any authority from the people’s elected representatives in Congress.
Today’s landmark victory against an out-of-control administration is also a big win for Americans who worry about skyrocketing energy costs due to expensive federal regulations that threaten our energy industry. President Biden cannot keep attacking the energy industry and the hardworking men and women who power our nation.”
STC recently hosted delegates from CMIC Tamaulipas and CMIC Reynosa for a tour of the STC Institute for Advanced Manufacturing to learn more about the campus and customized training the college is now providing across the border. Image Courtesy of STC
Texas Border Business
By Amanda Sotelo
South Texas College hosted the Cámara Mexicana de la Industria de la Construcción (CMIC)delegation recently at its Institute for Advanced Manufacturing (IAM) facility housed at the college’s Technology campus.
CMIC delegates from Reynosa and the statewide chapter from Tamaulipas, Mexico gathered for a tour of the IAM campus to get an inside look at what STC has to offer in terms of customized and hands-on training for their employees.
Delegates from CMIC Tamaulipas and CMIC Reynosa recently toured STC’s diesel labs at the college’s Technology campus. Image Courtesy of STC
STC recently extended its workforce development training and services internationally, most recently customizing robotics and English as a Second Language (ESL) courses for employees at Reynosa factories and manufacturing facilities.
“STC President Ricardo Solis is the mastermind behind this initiative,” Luisa Fernanda Rodriguez, STC global market development coordinator, told the group of delegates. “The training we provide addresses the needs in our workforce and gives our partners access to resources and support that will further connect our border.”
The tour focused on raising awareness of what STC has to offer in the industrial sectors of petrochemical, construction, manufacturing and logistics and transportation.
CMIC Tamaulipas and CMIC Reynosa are interested in partnering with STC for customized construction training that will take their organization to new heights.
Gerardo Holguín Lopez, chairman of the CMIC Tamaulipas steering committee, said he was impressed with everything STC has to offer.
“What STC has to offer is top-notch, state-of-the-art. We are so impressed with everything,” he said. “What the college has, especially for construction, is everything we need.”
With three CMIC Tamaulipas chapters along the U.S./Mexico border in Reynosa, Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo, the collaboration between CMIC and STC will greatly impact the neighboring regions.
“Giving our employees access to this type of training and giving them the opportunity to gain new skills and obtain a certificate, is going to take CMIC and the work we do along the border to a new level,” said Lopez. “The overall aspect of STC expanding its training across the border will have a great impact on everybody.”
STC President Ricardo J. Solis, Ph.D., said STC is creating bold solutions to have a global impact with its workforce development and new international partnerships.
“We are excited to be entering a new phase in our workforce development training,” said Solis. “We are growing this department tenfold and Luisa, Dr. Carlos Margo and their team are focused on ensuring we meet the demands of industry. We are proud of the work we’re doing, the impact we’re making and we’re excited that organizations like CMIC and others along our border will have the opportunity to benefit from our customized training and all STC has to offer.”
For more information on STC’s customized Workforce and Industry training, visit southtexascollege.edu.
A group of asylum seekers gather at the Paso Del Norte International Bridge in Ciudad Juárez in February 2020. The group sought entry into the United States after learning that the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy was blocked by a federal court. Photo Credit: Jordyn Rozensky for The Texas Tribune
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Biden administration has the right to end a Trump-era immigration policy that forces asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico as their cases make their way through U.S. immigration courts.
In a 5-4 ruling, the justices ruled against Texas and Missouri, which had argued the Biden administration violated the law by rescinding the program, and sent the case back to the district court to determine if terminating the policy violated any administrative laws.
But the justices determined that the government’s cancellation of the Migrant Protection Protocols, also called “remain in Mexico,” did not violate a section of immigration law that Texas and Missouri had used to argue that the Biden administration illegally ended the program.
It’s unclear if the Biden administration will try to end the program immediately or wait for the lower court to rule.
The program was launched by the Trump administration in January 2019. After President Joe Biden took office, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas canceled the program in June 2021.
That led Texas and Missouri to sue the Biden administration in April 2021, arguing that canceling MPP violated administrative and immigration laws and that without the program, human trafficking would increase and force the states to expend resources on migrants — such as providing driver’s licenses, educating migrant children and providing hospital care.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the district court to determine if terminating the policy violated any administrative laws.
The case reached the Supreme Court after a federal district judge in Texas ruled last year that the Biden administration violated immigration law by not detaining every immigrant attempting to enter the country. In August 2021, U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the policy.
The Biden administration argued it has the discretion to end the program and that it was not an effective way to deal with migrants seeking asylum.
About 70,000 asylum-seekers have been sent to Mexico through MPP, leading to refugee camps on the Mexican side of the border, where many migrants became targets for kidnappers and drug cartels. Since the program resumed in December, immigration officials have enrolled just over 5,100 migrants as of May 31, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
Human Rights First, a New York-based organization, recorded 1,544 cases of killings, rapes and kidnappings of migrants who were forced to remain in Mexico between MPP’s launch in January 2019 and January 2021, when the Biden administration initially suspended the policy. One woman enrolled in the program told The Texas Tribune that she had been raped by a Ciudad Juárez police officer as she waited in Mexico.
On average, it takes five years for a migrant to get a decision on their asylum case. Under a new plan that went into effect this year, the Biden administration’s goal is to wrap up asylum cases within six months for some asylum-seekers.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a separate lawsuit against the Biden administration on April 28 to attempt to halt the new asylum plan. Kacsmaryk, who is based in Amarillo, is also overseeing that case, which remains pending.
A group of asylum seekers gather at the Paso Del Norte International Bridge in Ciudad Juárez in February 2020. The group sought entry into the United States after learning that the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy was blocked by a federal court. Photo Credit: Jordyn Rozensky for The Texas Tribune
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics learned on Wednesday that former men’s basketball head coach (1982-86) and Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Lon Kruger was named as part of the 2022 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class. UTRGV Image
Texas Border Business
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics learned on Wednesday that former men’s basketball head coach (1982-86) and Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Lon Kruger was named as part of the 2022 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class.
The 2022 Class includes Kruger, Richard Hamilton (UConn), Larry Miller (North Carolina), Frank Selvy (Furman), Jimmy Walker (Providence) and coaches John Beilein and Jerry Krause. Roy Williams and Jim Calhoun will be formally honored with the Class of 2022 and were previously recognized as part of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Founding Class in 2006.
Kruger coached legacy institution Pan American University (PAU) from 1982-86, recording a 20-8 (.714) record in his final season. The .714 winning percentage is the highest for the program since 1979-80 (also .714) and kicked off a span of five-straight seasons without a losing record (four winning seasons, one .500).
Kruger’s success at PAU propelled him to become the first coach to ever lead five different programs (Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV and Oklahoma) to the NCAA Tournament and is the only coach to win an NCAA Tournament game with five programs. His teams have participated in 20 NCAA Tournaments and two Final Fours (2016 with Oklahoma and 1994 with Florida).
Kruger finished his coaching career with a record of 674-432 (.609). Kruger’s 674 Division I wins are the 27th most all-time and were the 10th most among active coaches at the time of his retirement.
He was an assistant coach for Team USA at the 1998 FIBA World Championship, bringing home a bronze medal. He was also the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks (2000-03) and an assistant with the New York Knicks (2003-04). Kruger is a four-time Coach of the Year (SEC 1992, SEC 1994, MWC 2008, Big 12 2014) and was awarded the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award in 2019.
Krueger was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame and into the Hall of Honor alongside his wife Barbara in 2018.
The 2022 induction ceremonies will take place on Sunday, November 20 at The College Basketball in Kansas City. Tickets will be available to the public in September. For more information on the event, visit halloffameweekend.com.
EDINBURG, Texas – Rio Grande Valley Sector (RGV) Border Patrol agents arrested two convicted sex offenders and nine gang members over the past week.
On June 24, Fort Brown Border Patrol Station agents apprehended a group of eight migrants near Brownsville. One of the migrants was convicted of sexual assault of a victim under 12 years old and received a nine-year sentence in Florida.
48 hours later, McAllen Border Patrol Station agents apprehended two Mara-Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang members. One of the subjects, a Honduran national was previously arrested by the McAllen Police Department for assault causing bodily injury to a family member. He was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to 29 days confinement.
On June 28, Brownsville Border Patrol Station agents apprehended Jorge Galvez, a Salvadoran national, near Brownsville. Record checks revealed he was arrested in New York in 1996 and charged with sexual contact with a person less than 14 years old and sentenced to 15 days incarceration.
Over the last five days, RGV agents arrested seven MS-13 and two 18th Street gang members.
CBP officers escort a wanted person at a U.S. port of entry. USCBP Image
Texas Border Business
HIDALGO, Texas—U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations (OFO) at the Hidalgo International Bridge apprehended Roberto Gallardo, a male Mexican citizen from Zacatecas, Mexico who had an arrest warrant for rape.
“CBP Field Operations is always ready to assist our law enforcement partners in locating those persons with outstanding warrants,” said Port Director Carlos Rodriguez, Port of Hidalgo/Pharr/ Anzalduas. “This man will face his day in court thanks to our vigilant officers who screen all travelers entering the United States.”
On March 24, 2022, 37-year-old Roberto Gallardo, arrived from Mexico at the Hidalgo International Bridge and a CBP officer immediately secured him after discovering Gallardo was a possible match to an arrest warrant. Once in secondary, biometric verification confirmed his identity along with the active arrest warrant from Ford County Sheriff’s Office in the State of Kansas. Gallardo had this outstanding warrant stemming from allegations from an incident in 2004 and has been a fugitive since. He is charged with an alleged rape, a first-degree felony in the State of Kansas.
A Hidalgo police officer arrived to take custody of Gallardo and transported him to the county jail to await extradition to Kansas.
Criminal charges are merely allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
he Western Athletic Conference (WAC) announced on Wednesday that 68 student-athletes at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley competing in either the spring sports of baseball and men’s and women’s golf, tennis, and outdoor track & field, or in any sports as freshmen or transfers, have earned 70 Academic All-WAC honors. Image for illustration purposes
Texas Border Business
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas – The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) announced on Wednesday that 68 student-athletes at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley competing in either the spring sports of baseball and men’s and women’s golf, tennis, and outdoor track & field, or in any sports as freshmen or transfers, have earned 70 Academic All-WAC honors.
Forty-five UTRGV student-athletes earned Spring Academic All-WAC honors while an additional 25 student-athletes earned Freshmen and Transfers Academic All-WAC awards.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must have completed at least one academic year at the institution, have at least a 3.2 cumulative grade point average, and have participated in at least 50% of the team’s contests (20% for pitchers).
Including fall and winter honors, UTRGV had 107 student-athletes earn 134 Academic-All WAC awards in 2021-22.
Across the WAC, a total of 2,605 Academic All-WAC honors were awarded to student-athletes in 20 sports, including football, men’s and women’s swimming & diving, and softball.
